Fall of Tenochtitlan

The Fall of Tenochtitlan occurred from 26 May to 13 August 1521 during Spain's conquest of the Aztec Empire. The Spanish army under Hernan Cortes and its native allies (including the Tlaxcalans) assaulted the smallpox-stricken Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1521, conquering the city and ending the Aztec Empire.

The smallpox-stricken city of Tenochtitlan had been severely weakened, but the Aztec emperor Cuauhtemoc insisted on continuing the fight against the Spanish. Cortes' 1,400 Spanish troops were reinforced by 200,000 native allies, and they faced 300,000 Aztec warriors within the city's walls. On 22 May 1521, the siege began. Spanish forces under Pedro de Alvarado and Cristobal de Olid marched towards Chapultepec to disconnect the Aztecs from their water supply, and the Aztecs forced them back at Tlacopan. However, the Spanish brigantines destroyed the Aztec canoes at the Tepeaquilla causeway, and the Spanish took control of the causeways, preventing food and water from being delivered to the city.

Cortes discovered Aztec plans to ambush his army, so he launched counter-ambushes, devastating the Aztecs and preventing the Aztecs from ambushing his army again, or openly bringing food and water into the city. Cuauhtemoc and his entire army then attacked all three Spanish camps simultaneously, capturing five of Alvarado's men, who were then sacrificed at the Great Temple in full view of their comrades. The Aztecs continued to attack the Spaniards on the causeways day and night, and many of Spain's native allies lost their lives, went home wounded, or simply deserted. Both sides fought desperately, but Cortes let the Aztec eat up all of their provisions and drink their brackish water.

The Spanish gradually advanced down the causeways, albeit without allies, and many Spanish allies would return after the Aztec prophecy that all Spaniards would be dead within ten days turned out to be false. The Spanish, who constantly received supplies from Veracruz, outlasted the starving Aztecs, whose changes of tactics merely delayed the inevitable fall of their city. Cortez then had all three camps of his men advance on the Tlatelolco marketplace, where fierce fighting ensued; the Aztecs ate the hearts of 90 Spanish captives. However, the Tlaxcalans, who, for a hundred years, had been forced by the Aztecs to send a quota of young men and women to them for sacrifice, took out their vengeance on the Aztecs, with the 150,000 Tlaxcalans massacring over 15,000 Aztec civilians.

After discussions with his nobles, Cuauhtemoc finally decided to begin talks with the Spanish. After several failed peace overtures, Cortes had Gonzalo de Sandoval attack the part of the city to which Cuauhtemoc had retreated, and, as hundreds of canoes attempted to flee the doomed city, Cortes sent his brigantines to intercept them. Cuauhtemoc's fifty pirogues, laden with his property, gold, jewels, and his family, were captured, and Cuauhtemoc himself was brought before Cortes. On 13 August 1521, the Aztecs surrendered, and Cuauhtemoc remained the titular leader of Tenochtitlan until 1525, when he was hanged for treason during a Spanish expedition to Guatemala.

Almost all of the Aztec nobles had been killed during the siege, while 40,000 Aztec bodies floated in the canals or were awaiting burial after the siege's end. Most of the survivors were young women and very young children, as most of the men had been slain in battle. The Tlaxcalans went on to loot the city, massacring women and children; 6,000 were massacred in Ixtapalapa alone. The Aztecs were almost wiped out as a result of the fall of Tenochtitlan and the smallpox epidemic, and the Spanish were able to conquer much of Mexico, gain substantial access to the Pacific Ocean, and achieve their original goal of reaching Asian markets.